Frank w



F. W. HOWARD.

RAINCOA T.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 6. 1917.

Patented Sept. 16,1919.

ran/r WEwara MA all? 422 Tl iB com'wum Puuc'unnn' cn., WASHINGTON. in c.

FRANK W. HOWARD, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

RAINCOAT.

Application filed January 6, 1917. Serial No. 140,864.

To all whom. it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANK WV. HowARD, a

citizen of the United States, and a resident of New York city, in the county of- New York and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements 1n Raincoats, of which the following is aspecification. r

This invention relates to raincoats which comprise'a cape and a skirt, and the invention contemplates forming portlons of these parts by means of flaps formed ntegrally with the coat. The general ob ect of the invention is 'to produce a raincoat of this type which is very simple in construction, and which is formed in such a way that the coatcan be produced from a relatlvely narrow piece of goods. While many features of the raincoat are applicable to coats constructed of any material whatever, the nvention has special advantages when apphedto a raincoat constructed of water-proof paper. This material though is frangible and llable to tear. According to my invention, however, I provide a form for the raincoat whlch will minimize the strains to which its parts will be subjected.

Further objects of the invention will ap pear hereinafter. e

In the drawing which fully illustrates the preferred embodiment of my invention Figure l is a front elevatlon and partlal section showing the complete ramcoat;

Fig. 2 is a plan of a blank elemenhfrom which this raincoat may be convenlently constructed, the lower portion of this view being broken away; I

Fig. 3 is a plan of the complete blank ready to be formed into the ralncoat; and

Fig. 4 is a vertical section taken onthe line 41 of Fig. 1.

Referring more-particularly to the parts, the raincoat comprises a cape 1 having shoulders 2, and acentrally disposed nee opening 3. The lower portlon of-the raincoat is in the form'of a skirt 4 which envelops the lower portion of the body. The forward portion of the raincoat has edges 5 and 6 which overlap each other at the front. At the neck opening 3 the edge of the material is turned over so as to form a hem 7 and in this hem is secured a cord 8, the ends of. which extend from the garment at the front so thatthey can be attached in a how 9.

. opposite edge of the raincoat.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Sept. .1 5 9- i At the sides of-the raincoat as indicated I I the points 11, Fig. 1, gaps are formed to produce armholes, and at each side of the front of the garment the sides offthe skirt are supported by 'connecting means or flaps 12 which extend upwardly from the skirt, the upper endsof the said flaps 12 being attached at an elevated pointas at 13 to the under side of the cape. In this way spaces are formed in front of each of the flaps 12 under the cape. The capel and' the skirt 4 are formed by means of integral flaps 14 and-15 between which the arm hole gaps 11 are formed, and these gaps have reentrant angles 16 between the flaps. V In or-r der to prevent the material from tearing at these reentrant angles I prefer .to provide the vertex of each angle with .a small sheet 17 of adhesive paper or cloth, which is made to adhere throughout substantially its entire' surface to the raincoat at this point, and if desired this may be at the vertex 18 of the angle. I I prefer to connect theflaps 12 to the cape by means of strips 19 of adhesive cloth-or-paper (see Fig. 1).

The skirt-flaps meet, atthe front to form the skirt; and so do'the cape-flaps, to form a cape crossing the front and covering the upper portion of the skirt at the front.v

In order to hold the raincoat closed at the front I prefer to provide buttons-20 of-cardboard which are secured by central eyelets 21 passing through and riveted. in the forward portion of the cape at connecting strips .19. The skirt of they raincoat is provided with similar buttons 22, the:central eyelets of which pass through reinforcements consisting of small square sheets 23 of adhesive paper or cloth. The buttons are arranged in opposite pairs, as shown, and each pair of buttons is provided with a cord 24 attached to one of the buttons and capable of being wound around the eyelet of the button on the A raincoat such as that described is preferably constructed from. an elemental blank such as the elemental blank 25 illustrated in Fig. 2. -This blank may be cut from a web of. material of relatively narrow width, the edge. of which is indicated by the dotted line 26 coinciding with the extreme side edges of the blank. This blank 25 is formed at its upper portion with an integral cape flap 26, the outer and upper portion of which preferably has a curved edge 27 which terrninates at its lower portion in an ogee curved edge '28. The blank also has an integral laterally extending skirt flap 29, the outer edge 30 of which coincides with the edge 26* of the web of material from which the blank is formed.

Between the cape flap 26 and the skirt flap 29 a gap 31 is formed which is to produce the armholes which occur at the points 11 of the finished raincoat. The gap 31 produces a reentrant angle 32 between the flaps 26 and 29. i

In order to give more freedom of movement at this pointand also to afford material in the cape to project beyond the arm opening to protect the arm, I prefer to pro vide'the re'e'ntrant angle 32 with a small substantially horizontal slit 33, terminating near the inner edge of the blanln'so thatthe vertex of the reentrant angle 32 is practically formed at the point 34 where this slit terminates. In this wayI produce a protecting flap 32 which will project'over the armhole at 11. Thisnpoint 34in the blank becomes the point 18 of the finished raincoat. Before forming this slit 33 I prefer to attach to the blank the reinforcing sheet 17 referred to alo( )ve. This part 17 prevents the slit extending any farther. The upper edge 35 of the skirt flap 29 is preferably substantially horizontal and from this upper edge the connecting flap 12 referred to above, extends upwardly. This flap is preferably formed integrally from the flap 29.

At the upper portion and adjacent the inner edge 36' of the elemental blank I provide a rectangular notch 37 with a small inclined incision 38 at the vertex of the angle. From the upper portion of this notch an inclined straight edge .39 extends, and this edge 39 is to form one of the front vertical meeting edges 5 or 6 of the cape of the finished raincoat.

In order to form the complete blank 40, see Fig. 3,1 unite two elemental'blanks such as that shown in Fig. 2, and I connect them by. gluing or sewing. so as t-oform two side portions connected by a back seam 41 of approximately the depth indicated by the dotted line 42 in Fig. 2. Thissea'm preferably does n'ot e'xtend throughout the entire length of the coat, but I leave a. vent 43 at the bottom, at which point the unattached hems 44 are bent back and glued or sewed to their adjacent part of the blank. The notches-37 of thetelemental blanks come together to form axsubstantially; rectangular gap 45'which forms the neck opening 3 of the finished raincoat. In forming this gap the edges are turned downso as" to form the hems 7 referred to above, in which the cord 8 is carried' In order that the skirt of the raincoat will adaptitself to the 'formof'the body I prefer to form the blank wit-haplurality of vertical creases 46. In forming the raincoat the spaces between the creases 46 operate like pleats. \Vhenathe raincoat is formed from the blank the shoulder lines extend from the corners 47 of the neck gap or notch 45, and the cape flaps extend around to the front so as to form a complete cape. The skirt flaps 29 also extend around to the front of the garment.

It is understood that the embodiment of the invention set forth herein is only one of the many embodiments the invention may take, and I do not wish to be limited in the practice of the invention nor in my claims, to the particular embodiment set forth.

What I claim is:

1. A raincoat comprising two side portions connected together by a seam at the back of the coat, said side portions each having an integral cape-flap at its upper portion extending around to the front of the raincoat to form a. cape, and having an integral skirtflapalso extending around to the front of the raincoatto form a skirt, the said cape flap and said skirt-flap of each side portion having a reentrant angle therebetween, a reinforcing piece consisting of an adhesive sheet attached to said raincoat at the vertex of the said reentrant angle, said raincoat having a gap at each side to form an armhole, and each skirt portion having an upwardly extendinggin te gral connecting flap connected to the under side of the cape at an elevated point, and thereby forming an arm space in front of each connecting flap under the cape.

2. A raincoat having an upwardly disposed integral cape-flap to form a cape, and having an integral lower skirt-flap to form a skirt, said raincoat having agap formed between said cape and skirt, constitutingan armhole, said raincoat having a reentrant angle formed therein at said gap, and a piece of adhesive sheet substantially the entire surface whereof adheres to said raincoat at said angle.

3. A raincoat having oppositely disposed integral cape-flaps at its upper portion extending around to the front'o-f the raincoat to form a cape, and havingintegral skirtfiaps also extending around to the front of the raincoat to form a skirt, said raincoat having a reentrantangle' formed between the cape-flap and the skirt-flap at each side of the raincoat to produce an armhole, said skirt-flaps at the front of the raincoat having upwardly extending connecting flaps, and a piece of an adhesive sheet at each side adhering to the under side of the cape, and to the upper end of the adjacent connecting flapsto support the forward portion of the skirt from the cape.

4. An elemental blank for a raincoat, having a cape-flap formed at its upper portion, said capefiap having a substantially rec tangular notch formed at one edge thereof, and having an inclined edge extending from said notch to form the front vertical edge of the cape, said blank further having a laterally extending skirt portion at its lower part to extend around and form the front skirt portion of the raincoat, the upper por tion of said skirt-flap having an upwardly extending connecting flap to be connected to the under side of the cape.

5. A blank for forming a raincoat having two oppositely disposed cape-flaps, the upper portion of said blank at said cape-flaps having a substantially rectangular notch formed therein, said cape-flaps having inclined edges extending from said notch to form the vertical front edges of the cape, the lower portion of said blank being constructed to form the skirt of the raincoat and having fiaps to be connected to the under side of the cape.

6. A blank for a caped raincoat consisting of two pieces having a substantially straight edge meeting to form a central seam, each of said pieces having a cape flap formed at its upper portion extending laterally away from said central seam, to extend around to the front of the raincoat and form a portion of the cape, each of said pieces also having a laterally extending skirt flap at its lower part to extend around and form a portion of the skirt of the raincoat.

Signed at New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, this 28th day of Dec, A. D. 1916.

FRANK W. HOWARD.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents. Washington, D. G." 

